


They Call Him TMZ

by JKelly



Category: Backstage (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Canon, M/M, Misunderstandings, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Slash, Rumors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-25 20:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7547027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKelly/pseuds/JKelly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Miles tries to ask Julie out the first time and fails, Jax tells Miles to practice on him. Or "HEADCANON THAT WHEN JAX IS HELPING MILES ASK JULIE OUT HE TELLS MILES TO PRACTICE ON HIM AND HE HOLDS HIS HANDS AND LOOKS HIM IN THE EYES AND SAYS "WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME" AND SASHA COMES ROUND THE CORNER AND ALL HE SEES IS JAX AND MILES HOLDING HANDS AND LOOKING LOVINGLY INTO EACH OTHERS EYES AND HES LIKE PRIME BLOG MATERIAL AND HE SNAPS A PICTURE AND POSTS IT @DISNEY GET TO IT PLEASE AND THANK YOU."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> http://ellenarcher.tumblr.com/post/147525376635/headcanon-that-when-jax-is-helping-miles-ask-julie

After Miles failed to ask Julie out a moment ago, Jax couldn’t help but feel a little excited. He tried to conceal his smile when Miles turned around. Julie hadn't turned him down, but Miles hadn't actually asked her out. As they walked through the hallway together, he couldn't help but notice the dejected look on his friend’s face. So Jax, being the awesome person that he was, decided to help out.

“Practice on me,” he said.

“Practice what?”

“Practice asking Julie out on me.” At Miles’ deadpan look, Jax had given him a playful shove. “Come on dude.”

Miles sighed which made Jax grin. “Meet me after school, in the quad.”

“Wh- _after_ school? But it’s Friday!”

“Exactly. So everybody will have ran out of here like bats out of hell to get their weekend started.”

“I could have plans you know.”

“Do you?”

“Well, no-”

Jax grinned even wider. “After school, pretty boy,” he said and walked off to math class.

* * *

 

Jax was sitting on a bench when Miles walked up to him. “Jax, I was wonder-”

“No, try again.”

Miles gaped at him and Jax tried to ignore how adorable he looked. “Are you kidding me?”

“Are _you_ kidding _me_? What if she’s having a conversation? You just gonna walk up and interrupt her?”

“But you weren't having a conversation!”

“That’s not the point. And what did I tell you about leading with a salutation?”

“Do you even know how to spell salutation?”

Jax folded his arms. “We could do this all night.”

“Can we stop this now Jax, please? It’ll be dark soon.”

Jax looked around and noticed that Miles was right. The sun hadn’t set completely, but it was almost there. And since Miles and Jax had been practicing, the temperature ad definitely dropped. In about thirty minutes, it would probably look like night time.

“You’re right," Jax said before hesitating. "But...NO.”

Jax rolled his eyes as Miles groaned. The least Miles could do was be grateful. Here Jax was after school, on a Friday, being supportive, _putting aside his own feelings,_ and all that jazz to help Miles, and Miles was repaying him by acting like a little piece of-

“Okay,” Miles said. “I’ll try it again.”

“Good.”

Miles took a deep breath. “Hey Jax, can I talk to you for a second?”

Jax scoffed. “No ‘please’? If I was Julie I’d turn you down.”

“You _have_ turned me down,” he cried. “Fifteen times now.”

“Maybe if you do it correctly I won’t have to turn you down a sixteenth time.”

Miles opened his mouth like he wanted say something but thought better of it. “Excuse me, Jax?”

“Yes Mildred?”

“Hi. And it’s Miles actually.”

“Yes, Miles actually?”

Miles took Jax’s hands in his and looked at Jax intently. “I’ve noticed you around school and I think you’re beautiful and so talented. I’d really love to get to know you better. So, will you go out with me?”

Jax nodded enthusiastically, his heart hammering in his chest. He knew this wasn’t real but that didn't mean he couldn’t act like it was. “Yes, yes I’ll go out with you.”

Miles smiled and Jax couldn’t help but smile too. Jax was about to tell Miles that he’d done a great job when he saw something flash and heard the sound of a shutter.

Miles released Jax’s hands from his own, attempting to cover his eyes. “What the-”

“Who knew that dance detention with Helsweel would pay off one day?” An Asian boy was holding his phone out in one hand and had a duffel bag slung over his back. Judging by the thin black pants he wore, the duffel, and his mention of the infamous Ms. Helsweel, he was in the dance program.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Jax yelled. He knew this kid from somewhere, he just couldn't remember his name.

“This is prime blog material Jax and Miles. Keaton hasn’t had good relationship drama in ages.”

“How do you know our names?” Miles asked, trying to cover his face. “And we’re not in a-”

“I write TMK, Keaton's gossip blog.” When the other two said nothing, he spoke again. “You must have heard of it by now. TMK, Too Much Keaton. And I know everybody. Or rather _of_ everybody. I’m Sasha.”

Jax glared at him. Right. The boy with the blog. “Well Sasha. Don’t post that.”

“It’s too late. Any pics I take with this instantly get uploaded there.”

“WHAT?” Miles and Jax shouted.

Sasha looked positively ecstatic and Jax wished he had never suggested that they practice here. “It’s a part of my Freshmen Friday series. Every Friday, I post something about freshmen so they can really start to feel like a part of the school’s online community.”

All Jax and Miles could do was stare.

“Well,” Sasha began putting his phone into his pocket. “Have a nice weekend!” He exclaimed with a wave before leaving.

Jax was about to get up when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw a text from Bianca who he still regretted giving his number to.

 _What is THIS?_ The text said. And below, was the picture of Miles, holding Jax’s hands and Jax looking up at him lovingly.

“Dude,” Jax said showing his phone to Miles.

“What are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know.” But what Jax did know was that they were screwed, and this was going to be a very long weekend.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and anything else you all celebrate (or don't celebrate)! This chapter is my present to you all!
> 
> 1) I've never been to Canada (where the show is located) so I've no idea how their public transportation works. I'm basing it off of what I read on Wikipedia. 
> 
> 2) This deviates from episode 12 and Miles never asks Julie out. 
> 
> 3) This started out as a one shot from a Tumblr prompt but now it's more like a plot bunny that escaped the farm.

Some minutes later Jax was still sitting on the bench, completely dumbfounded, and Miles was struggling to get him off of it. He had both of Jax’s hands in his, but this time it wasn’t romantic. It was desperate.

“Jax.  _ Jax.  _ Come on man, get up. We gotta get to the station or we’ll miss our train.” 

“I…” What just happened?! They were practicing, then there was a flash, Sasha showed up and now- “This is awful.”

Jax had been on TMK a few times. It was one of those things that pulled you in and kept your attention once you gave it a chance. He could admit that he'd spent a few nights reading about which teachers were getting cozy in the lounge together or if it was true that the cupcakes Katrina Johnson sold in the hallways had weed in them. The graphics were good, there were forums where students could offer advice to one another, and there was a calendar of school events that was more accurate than the one on Keaton’s official website.

Jax never thought he'd be into gossip, but TMK was pretty cool and everyone read it. Which was exactly the problem.

Miles ran his fingers through his short hair. “Yeah, I know but-”

Jax sighed heavily and stood up. “Alright, let’s go.”

They picked up their bags and started walking to the train station. They walked in uncomfortable silence, not saying a word to each other until their train arrived. 

“We could ask him to take it down,” Miles said once they were seated. 

“But how? I don’t have any way to contact him. Do you?”

Miles shook his head. “I guess I didn’t think about that.”

“It’s no big deal,” he responded in an attempt not to show Miles how freaked out he felt.

“Could we report it?”

“To who?” Jax mumbled while he jiggled his leg up and down.

“Principal Duraney. Or Ms. Hellswheel? I dunno.” 

The two spent the majority of the ride trading ideas about how to get the picture and the article removed. Miles tried to think of practical solutions e.g. seeing if they had any mutual friends with him and then asking those friends to talk to him or telling a teacher. Most of Jax’s ideas involved them getting Sasha beat up. One in particular involved Sasha getting ballet shoes shoved into two of his orifices.

Jax couldn’t get rid of the butterflies in his stomach. After Miles had let go of his hands when Sasha arrived, Jax’s palms felt unnaturally clammy. They were wetter than a river and wiping them on his pants didn't help to dry them at all. They felt like a constant reminder that the moment Jax and Miles had shared wasn’t real, and probably never would be.

“We can fix this,” Jax practically whispered.

“Totally,” Miles replied with a nod. “Just call or text if you wanna talk this weekend. See you Monday, dude,” he said touching Jax’s shoulder as the train came to a stop. 

Jax looked up abruptly. He hadn’t even realized that they were at Miles’ stop. “See you.” 

Miles walked off the train. Now, Jax was alone with nobody to talk to for five more stops. Jax couldn’t help but wonder what would people at school would say, if they would even say anything. Would they think he was gay? (Not that he wasn't but it was  _ his  _ business.) Would people think that Jax and Miles were some couple that was hiding their relationship, only seeing each other at night? Or maybe some people would be heartbroken. Like Alya. Her crush on Miles was more obvious than a python in a bucket of worms and Jax didn’t want to be the object of her rage once she found out that Jax and Miles were “dating.” And poor Miles; Julie probably wouldn’t date him if she thought he was gay, which was a win for Jax but a loss for his best friend. 

Jax sighed.  

He wasn’t even sure if Miles was gay. Or bi. Or into guys at all Just because he had a little crush on Julie or found her pretty didn’t mean that he was straight. And Jax had never actually asked his friend about his sexuality. Jax found plenty of girls pretty but he never actually wanted to be with them. And there were tons celebrities that had dated people of the opposite gender before coming out, like Ellen Page and Ricky Martin and that guy that played Marco on Degrassi. And if Jax really wanted to know, all he had to do was ask. 

* * *

Texting was hard. At least, texting Miles was. Jax had no idea how to ask him about his sexuality. What if he got offended? What if Miles deleted Jax’s number and never talked to him again? What if Miles thought that Jax was some kind of lovesick idiot? A lovesick idiot so consumed with his best friend that he didn’t even have the courage to say what he felt. What if Miles’ was straight? Or even worse, homophobic? The friendship that they had both built over the past few months would fall like a house of cards.

Jax sighed heavily as he plopped down on his bed and he toweled off his wet hair. He grabbed his phone and thought about replying to Bianca.   
  
He _ thought _ about it.

_ What is THIS?  _ Bianca had sent him. The long shower he had just taken didn’t relax him at all nor did it help him forget Bianca’s text. If anything he felt even more anxious and unsure of what to do than he had before. Jax could just imagine how much glee she was taking in this whole thing. If anyone had picked up on his crush, it was definitely her. Bianca was a lot of things (mean, bossy, arrogant, snobby, etc.) but she wasn’t stupid. Jax was almost positive that she’d caught him staring at Miles in class when Jax thought nobody was looking or noticed how aggravated he got when he and Miles weren't put in a group together. 

  
Jax buried his face in his towel as if the answers he wanted were lying there. It was soaking wet and smelled like peppermint shampoo. Jax sighed and was just about to head to the kitchen and get himself a soda when his phone lit up.

  
**Bianca:** JAXON???

**Jax** _ : BIANCA??? _

**Bianca:** Just tell me if it’s true ;)

Jax rolled his eyes. If he wasn't feeling so nauseous he would've sent her an equally as sardonic remark. Man, Bianca could be annoying. Jax wanted to tell her exactly that, but then another text came in.

**Bianca:** Jsyk everyone thinks you two are a thing now

           Not a surprise tho, all the signs were there

**Jax** :  No it’s not true

       Wait what signs?!?!?   
  


**Bianca:** LMAOOOOOO

**..** .are you serious

Omfg Jaxon

The next line was two little eggplants followed by another winking face. And wasn't that just great because what Jax definitely needed right now was another person assuming things about him and Miles. Especially somebody as nosy as Bianca. In fact, if Sasha was the biggest gossip in the school, Bianca was an incredibly close second.

  
Jax heard a beeping sound. He eyed his phone warily, picking it up despite his reservations.

**Miles:** CHECK TMKv NOW  
          LIKE NOW  
  
 **Jax:** Why? We already saw the pic  
  
 **Miles:** JUST READ IT  
          YOU'LL KNOW WHAT'S WRONG AS SOON AS YOU READ THE TITLE 

          YOU WON'T EVEN HAVE TO LOOK FOR THE ARTICLE BECAUSE IT'S ON THE HOME PAGE. I'LL CALL YOU WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH IT   


**Jax:** ...How will you know when I'm done w/ it?   
  
**Miles:** TRUST ME. JUST READ IT. IT’S WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT   



	3. Chapter 3

EDIT - 7/18/2017: Please skip this chapter if you'd like to get to the next part of the story!

I had found out that this story was plagiarized on Wattpad. The original note I wrote regarding this was: "This story was plagiarized by someone on Wattpad. Because of this, I haven't posted a new chapter. I wanted to make sure that this whole dispute was settled before I post anything else. I've reported the person and hopefully, the story will be removed from Wattpad OR the person will give me credit. I apologize for making anyone that's subscribed to this story expect a new chapter and I promise a legitimate chapter will be posted soon." As of May 29, 2017, the story has been removed from the site. 


End file.
